!!!Walther von der Vogelweide

Walther von der Vogelweide, most important and also most successful 
minnesinger and German-language poet of the Middle Ages. Of his work, 
500 verses in 110 songs, 90 songs, 150 poems and one lay have been 
preserved. He is mentioned in only one document: Wolfger von Erla, 
Bishop of Passau, gave him "5 Solidi longi" for a fur coat on Nov. 12, 
1203. It is presumed that he was born around 1170; his background is 
equally unclear. From his work, it can be seen that he first worked as 
a minnesinger in Vienna and became a travelling poet after the death 
of Duke Friedrich I (1198). He performed at different ducal 
courts (Thuringia, Meissen, Cologne, Bavaria, Passau, Carinthia) as a 
poet, the literary field in which he was most successful  Epigrammatic 
Poetry. The themes included politics and religion. His political poems 
deal mainly with the question of who would be the best sovereign; in 
this context he also attacks the pope's influence on politics. His 
religious poems and songs ("Palaestinalied") impress with their poetic 
force. As a minnesinger, W. von der Vogelweide first concentrated on 
the spiritual and social relevance of the Hohe Minne (idealised love 
for a noble lady which can never be returned); during his time in 
Vienna he was a serious rival of  Reinmar "the Old". In his so-called 
"Maedchenlieder" ("Unter der linden", "Nemt frowe diesen Kranz"), he 
developed the concept of the Niedere Minne (love which can be 
returned) and finally found a synthesis between idealistic demands and 
successful wooing in the so-called Ebene Minne, thus opening up new 
aesthetic perspectives for the  Minnesong. His extraordinary artistic 
talent shows most impressively in the poems he created in his old age; 
they can be clearly distinguished from his earlier work. The most 
famous of these poems is the so-called "Elegie" ("Owê war sint 
verswunden alliu mîniu jâr"), which is one of the most 
important texts in German literature. According to the obituaries 
written by other medieval poets, W. must have died in Wuerzburg (in 
present-day Germany) around 1230, where he held a small fief.

\\
Editions: Leich, Lieder, Sangsprueche, 14%%sup th/%  revised edition 
of K. Lachmann´s edition, ed. by C. Corneau, 1996 (this edition 
is based on the order of the poems); Werke, ed. by J. Schaefer (with 
translation into modern German and commentary), %%sup 2/%1987; 
Gedichte, ed. by P. Wapnewski (with translation into modern German and 
commentary), %%sup 18/%1988.

!Literature
K. H. Halbach, W. v. d. V., 
%%sup 4/%1983; G. Hahn, W. v. d. V., 1986; M. G. 
Scholz, W. v. d. V., 1999.


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